Kokoro Kara 心から…
by xShiroi-chan
Summary: OneShot. Sakura and Ino lament about their so-called "crush", his relationship with Naruto, their own relationship, and how they both will never forgive the Uchiha with the hatred and dislike from their very hearts. InoSaku, SasuNaru. Slash/Femmeslash.


**Kokoro Kara…  
****心から…**

Summary: Sakura and Ino laments about their so-called "crush", his relationship with Naruto, their own relationship, and how they both will never forgive the Uchiha with the hatred and dislike from their very hearts.

Pairings:

Ino x Sakura, mentions of Sasuke x Naruto

Rating: T

**Warnings: Authoress' sleepiness, OOC-ness, slash/shounen-ai, femmeslash/shoujo-ai, cursing/swearing, two very mad kunoichis, and angst in general. Inaccuracies as I have never read the original part nor have I watched the anime (you'll be surprised at how much info Wikipedia/Naruto wiki has. Combined with the fact that I couldn't even get to the part where Naruto and Sasuke fought at The Valley Of The End before bursting into tears and I had to slam my laptop cover down) Very (tiny weeny, okay maybe not) OOC-ness for Naruto. Oh yes, this is un-beta'd as well.**

This might be offensive to Sasuke-lovers as I make him seem like the bad guy (hey, it's Ino's thoughts, that's why)… So yeah.

Disclaimer: Disclaim'd, I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto-sensei does. (Although he has announced that the manga will be having a very interpretable SasuNaru ending -HA! LET'S SEE HOW YOU'LL EDIT THAT DUBBERS!- *cheers*)

Timeline: Anime timeline, as I needed time for Sakura and Ino's relationship to develop instead of just having them suddenly falling in love -_-;; You'll see why if you read :D.

Note: One of the most random OneShots you'll ever get from me. It was inspired by a SaiNaru, strangely, I should probably write a SaiNaru or a pure ItaNaru (or KakaNaru, anything goes XD;) one day. Ahh, one fine day… However I have been wanting to write InoSaku for so long (as a practice for femmeslash…), so yeah, they go first. :D

I also realised that I should probably post Meguru's second chapter (however I have not gotten it back from my beta yet). *coughs guiltily* I was… distracted once again (hence the reason why I'm not chasing after my beta). BUT NO WORRIES! I will finish Meguru, I promise :D (I hope…?)

**Also, this might not make sense because I'm writing this with half a brain. Hence the OOC-ness because I'm too sleepy to keep them in character. (However this is what I envisioned if Sakura and Ino got together. XD) There might be errors in the storyline (plot holes) as well because I'm just typing as I go, not checking…**

**Edits (14/12/10): Fixed some errors, but still not fixing the plot and story in general :-/**

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"Sakura! Sakura are you alright?" The kunoichi turned to stare blankly at the blonde, who had grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her – causing her short, pink hair to fly in all sorts of direction - while swearing and cursing at Sasuke-kun all the while.

"I heard about Sasuke, oh that damn bastard! Where's Naruto? How did he take it?" Ino stopped talking when tears welled up in Sakura's eyes and she dived into Ino's arms, wailing all the while.

"Sa – Sasuke-kun is gone! Naruto has gone after him and had promised to bring him back but I don't really… I don't want to seem so greedy to Naruto but he wouldn't – INO!" The blonde winced and stared at Lee, who stared sympathetically at the sobbing girl in her arms. Even though his feelings for Sakura no longer exists – like how Sakura's crush for Sasuke had died out – they had still remained good friends along with the rest of Rookie Nine, and, Ino thought grimly, this must be hard on him too.

"Don't worry Sakura, Sasuke's important to Naruto," Ino said with a grimace. In fact, Sasuke's even more important to Naruto compared to the rest of them, but she decided not to voice that out loud. "Naruto's not doing this just for you, he's doing this for himself as well. So stop feeling so bad, I'm sure Naruto would be sad if you're in this state when he gets back." She left the part of "Sasuke returning" alone, so as to not get the other's hope up.

"I know," sniff, sniff, "but I want to do something, anything to make myself useful! Naruto has done so much for us, he had fought for me and gotten us together," here Ino flushed pink for a moment, which made a very weird sight as she was blushing with such a sorrowful expression, before composing herself.

"I know Sakura, but now, all we can do is to have faith in Naruto, it's better than not doing anything, right?" There was silence from the girl in her arms and watery emerald green-coloured irises turned to look at her sadly, before the owner of those eyes nodded.

Ino smiled, "Let's go home and get some rest, okay?" she then turned to nod at Lee before leading her girlfriend away.

Sakura, as Ino had predicted, was limp and silent throughout their whole journey back to the Yamanaka flower shop.

*~*~*THIS IS A LINE*~*~*

While Sakura rested, Ino thought through about how they had gotten together. It was, she thought wryly, during the Chuunin exam knockouts, when they both had ended with fight with a tie (read: double suicide) After that incident, Naruto had came up to them, surprisingly solemn, and stared at Ino before telling her (right in front of Sakura and the other examinees) that she should probably tell Sakura about her feelings or the pink-haired girl might never see it her way.

Ino had gaped, Sakura had eyed him incredulously and imitated a fish as well, but the blonde had wondered how in seven hells had Naruto known and maybe that the blond was not as stupid as he seemed to be…?

However although that image of a sharp and smart Naruto was banished from her mind the moment he dropped the façade (or was the cheerful expression a façade, and the solemn one was real?) and gave them that goofy grin before running out of punching distance, Ino would never forget the time when she was forced to admit her feelings for her childhood friend. Sakura had gaped continuously throughout the whole thing, before dragging her to a secluded place after that to let her explain.

The blonde had spilled the whole truth: about how chasing after Sasuke was a lie – a very nicely made and convenient bluff – to get close to Sakura and somewhat get the young Haruno to change her mind.

Sakura had been confused (because by then, it was damn obvious even to her that Sasuke was hundred percent smitten with Naruto) and had asked Ino to give her time, to shed away her feelings – which Ino doubt was serious at all – for Sasuke and try to see her best friend in a different light.

Surprisingly, it hadn't been hard at all. A week after the Konoha invasion by Suna and Oto, Sakura had stepped into her shop, looking very anxious and nervous before telling Ino that they could try a relationship.

Ino hadn't been so happy before in her life and the relationship led them both – Ino and Sakura – here to this day now.

The blonde shook herself out of her daydream when Sakura stirred, blinking her eyes open and staring at her quizzically, "Ino?" blink, blink and blink, before the blanket was tossed over hurriedly and the person that had been under it sat up in a sudden, "Oh shit, is Naruto back?" Sakura grimaced at the headache she got from sitting up so fast as she questioned Ino, who merely shook her head.

"There hasn't been any news, so it's safe to assume that they are not back yet." The pink haired girl sighed before looking at her and asking the last thing – okay maybe not the last, still it was surprising – that Ino thought she would.

"Hey Ino-koi, what do you think about Sasuke-kun?" Blue eyes – not as bright as Naruto, Ino had compared them herself – blinked in confusion before the blonde stared at the pinkette, "Huh?"

Sakura fidgeted, "I had a dream when I was asleep and it was kind of… weird… However it had made me thought through about Sasuke-kun." Ino blinked, clearly missing the point of Sakura asking her the question as Sakura elaborated, "From how I," a grimace, "behaved, it's safe to assume that it was during my fangirl phase," Ino squashed hard on the growing blob of jealousy green monster in her chest, "but I know, although I had been too blind to notice then, I know that Sasuke-kun really cares about Naruto, and in a way, everyone of us too. So why? I want to know Ino, what you think about Sasuke-kun, to know that the Sasuke-kun that we knew is not an illusion."

Ino grimaced, but knowing that Sakura needed reassurance about the Sasuke they all knew right now – and not some jerk who's lusting for power – and began to talk about the Sasuke she knew (or, she thought grimly, she thought she knew, once knew and will never know again.)

"Even though he's cold, he does care about us, well," she smiled mirthfully, "hose who don't fangirl over him that is," Sakura giggled, "and he obviously loves Naruto a lot, even someone who's blind could see it…" Ino's smile was tuned down into a melancholic expression, "However I think I know how much he wanted more power, but I really didn't think that he'd abandon Naruto to get it. Us, perhaps, but never Naruto, because even I could never bear to do that, Naruto's too precious." Now it had turned into a deep frown as Ino thought about the Uchiha.

Sakura sighed wistfully, "Sasuke-kun and Naruto get along so well, ne? They are – were – the perfect couple." She corrected herself with a grimace, "It's hard to imagine how Sasuke-kun could do this, how he would do this…" Her expression darkened, "Then perhaps, hatred, thirst for power and revenge could drive you to extremities…" She clenched her fists, and continued with tears forming in her eyes.

"But, he had been doing so well… He had been holding back, Naruto had been there to make him strong… Why?" Sakura questioned tiredly and Ino reached out to hold her hands in her own, shaking her head.

"Well, sometimes when you keep that hatred bottled up, everything just explodes at once. But I would like to blame it on _Orochimaru_," Just the name of that man left a nasty taste in her mouth, "It's his fault, after all." The pink-haired girl sniffled, "But Sasuke-kun could have not…" She couldn't finish the sentence before breaking down again, and Ino had to climb onto her bed to hug her and offer a shoulder for comfort.

Despite it all, she knew that although Orochimaru had influenced Sasuke, it was also his own fault for being so emotionally weak.

_Damn it all._ Ino thought as she closed her eyes, lying beside a finally calmed and sleeping Sakura. _What are your thoughts then, Naruto?_

*~*~*THIS IS A LINE*~*~*

Ino was awoken by her mother, who had informed her that Naruto and the Sasuke retrieval team was admitted to the hospital. The blonde had wasted no time in waking Sakura up and both of them wasted even lesser time getting into the hospital.

Sakura's expression was of anger and disbelief when she saw Naruto; and Ino was certain that her expression mirrored hers as well. He looked so frail, so defenseless against the world lying on the white hospital bed, and Ino felt even more pissed when she thought that it was Naruto's lover (she had to sneer at the title which Sasuke didn't deserve) that had placed him in this state.

She saw Sakura cradling something that she had picked up from the bedside table out of the corner of her eyes and walked behind her to take a look. What she saw made her recoil in shock (then again, she should've been expecting it when they heard of the news that the mission was a failure); Sasuke's hitae-ate, sewn onto the blue fabric, had a distinct, clear slash across it. Ino knew the meaning of marked hitae-ates: Sasuke was no longer a Konoha-nin.

He was now a nuke-nin, a traitor of Konoha, their _enemy_. Ino thought bitterly before staring at Naruto, wondering what kind of emotion he was feeling right now.

What kind of torture was he going through right now?

Ino felt so powerless that she couldn't help Naruto, and was sure that Sakura felt a thousand times worse, judging by the way she was crying, having set the hitae-ate down.

The expression that Naruto was wearing when he was staring at the marked forehead protector after he woke up didn't help Ino or Sakura's guilt either.

That, and the villagers' continuous biased hatred and dislike towards Naruto made both of them go absolutely nuts. How the hell could they do this? It wasn't even Naruto's fault! Ino had wanted to scream, but knew that she couldn't really do anything against them. It got even worse when Naruto heard them. Their friends had all tried to cheer him up, but he would always give them a – fake – smile that made Sakura and Ino so mad, because he obviously was not okay.

However knowing that Naruto would just flat out ignore it if they ever voiced their thoughts out loud (blaming it on himself instead), Ino and Sakura settled for complaining to each other instead.

By the time they saw how Naruto exhausted himself in order to bring Sasuke back, both of them could take it no longer. They decided that Sasuke really was worth disliking, worth hating, for all the things that he was making Naruto go through. (Surprisingly, even Hinata agreed with them on that.)

It's ironic, Ino knew; as Sakura, who had been crushing so hard on Sasuke before, now hated him; and that the fact they couldn't understand Sasuke's hatred for his brother, but they themselves hated him. However she and Sakura supposed that everyone in the Rookie Nine understood their hatred for Sasuke, when they didn't understand his.

They still said nothing as Naruto continued to train himself, knowing that no one could ever stop him. (Part of his charms, Ino supposed.) However they waited, perhaps one day when Sasuke finally snaps out of his stupor and returns, they will make their dislike for him known (Kiba might be more vocal about it than the others…) and let him know that he was not the only who's been hurting as Naruto got hurt so much more in the process.

_So, so much more._

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A/N: Ahh, I think I overdid it with my Sasuke dislike? I can't help but to say that he's such a freaking jerk! Return to Naruto already damnz you!

This was short, but meh, I'm not thinking anymore! Too… tired… *yawns*

**Well, you might notice a lack of vocabulary and errors everywhere (perhaps even the storyline) because by now, only one-fourth of my brain is working. Zzzz… I should probably go and sleep. Will correct this when I get the time to, just wanted to get this thing out of my system.**

Although the next time you'll see me update would be around the end of November (once again, holiday homework makes itself known -.-;;)

I also changed my writing style a little (I at least know that much) because I wanted to test this style out, and since Ino has a lot to talk about, it became the perfect test subject.

Ja ne :D Do R&R, or I will sock you in the face (yeah, even when I'm sleepy I can do that :D)

**Shiroi-chan; ****しろい**


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